The Long Arc of History Bends Toward Realism: A Conversation with Christopher Mott

[Recorded on 29 July 2025.] 

We sat down with the always insightful Christopher Mott of the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy to talk about the patterns of American culture and their effects on foreign policy. His distinctive blend of cultural criticism, global history, and strategic thinking were on full display. Listeners will enjoy our discussion of the deep history of Eurasia in his 2015 book The Formless Empire: A Short History of Warfare and Diplomacy in Central Asia. We asked him questions about his amazing white paper Woke Imperium: The Coming Confluence Between Social Justice and Neoconservatism and the sarcastic wisdom found on his blog The Trickster’s Guide to Geopolitics. But the core of our conversation revolved around the prospects of a new realism in American foreign policy since the disasters of Ukraine, the Middle East and looming war with China. 

Links:

The Formless Empire: A Short History of Diplomacy and Warfare in Central Asia

Woke-Imperium

The Trickster's Guide to Geopolitics | International Relations for the Outsider

Modus Vivendi: Realism's Missing Link

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